Boston archdiocese to pay $85 million in abuse cases

Jonathan Finer, Alan Cooperman, Washington Post

Published
4:00 am PDT, Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Attorney Robert Sherman, right, is hugged by church victim Gary Bergeron, center, and thanked by victim Bernard McDaid, left, after the Boston Archdiocese agreed to settle clergy sex cases at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003. The Boston Archdiocese agreed to pay $85 million to more than 500 people who claim Roman Catholic priests sexually abused them, giving victims a long-awaited formal recognition of their pain and the church a chance to move forward from one of the worst scandals in its history. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) less

Attorney Robert Sherman, right, is hugged by church victim Gary Bergeron, center, and thanked by victim Bernard McDaid, left, after the Boston Archdiocese agreed to settle clergy sex cases at Suffolk Superior ... more

Photo: CHARLES KRUPA

Photo: CHARLES KRUPA

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Attorney Robert Sherman, right, is hugged by church victim Gary Bergeron, center, and thanked by victim Bernard McDaid, left, after the Boston Archdiocese agreed to settle clergy sex cases at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003. The Boston Archdiocese agreed to pay $85 million to more than 500 people who claim Roman Catholic priests sexually abused them, giving victims a long-awaited formal recognition of their pain and the church a chance to move forward from one of the worst scandals in its history. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) less

Attorney Robert Sherman, right, is hugged by church victim Gary Bergeron, center, and thanked by victim Bernard McDaid, left, after the Boston Archdiocese agreed to settle clergy sex cases at Suffolk Superior ... more

Photo: CHARLES KRUPA

Boston archdiocese to pay $85 million in abuse cases

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2003-09-10 04:00:00 PDT Boston -- Boston's Catholic archdiocese agreed Tuesday to pay $85 million to settle claims by more than 550 people who say they were sexually abused by priests, the largest settlement yet in a scandal that has shaken the church nationwide.

The settlement, announced in a courtroom amid tearful victims and their families, came after numerous attempts for more than a year to reach an agreement under former Cardinal Bernard Law. He resigned because of his role in the scandal -- acknowledging he transferred pedophile priests from parish to parish -- and was replaced by Archbishop Sean O'Malley, who was able to broker an agreement with victims within five weeks.

Victims said the settlement will help the healing process after years of hearing their pleas for help from the church rejected.

"From this day forward, I am no longer an alleged victim," said Gary Bergeron, who along with his younger brother was abused in the 1970s. "I am recognized. I am a survivor."

While the settlement is the largest lump sum any U.S. diocese has agreed to pay at one time to victims of sexual abuse, it is not a record amount on a per- victim basis. Each victim will be paid $80,000 to $300,000, depending on an arbitrator's assessment of the severity of the abuse suffered. Lawsuits in other dioceses have brought payments of more than $1 million per plaintiff.

"In pure economic terms, it probably would be considered on the lower end of things," said Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., who has represented hundreds of alleged victims in other dioceses and was not involved in the Boston negotiations. "But in terms of bringing a measure of healing, it is enormous."

The latest round of settlement talks began Sunday evening, with a seven- hour session attended by O'Malley. A decade ago, he settled a landmark abuse case against the church in Fall River, Mass., and on Tuesday victims' attorneys credited him with improving the climate of the negotiations since he took over for Law, who since his resignation has moved to a convent in suburban Washington.

"Without his courage," said lawyer Roderick McLeish, whose firm represents more than 200 victims, "none of this would have been possible."

Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the agreement "demonstrates that the church is committed to working out just settlements" with survivors of clergy abuse.

But survivors' groups and lay Catholic organizations said church officials are fooling themselves if they think the scandal is behind them.

"Of course, it's tempting to find milestones, but I think it's wishful and dangerous thinking to say we're a giant step closer toward ending this crisis, " said David Clohessy, executive director of the 4,000-member Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

A resolution had been elusive since the scandal exploded in January 2002 with the release of court documents in the case of the defrocked priest John Geoghan, who church leaders moved from parish to parish despite evidence he had molested children. Allegations against dozens of other priests soon came to light, and hundreds of lawsuits were filed against the archdiocese.

Priest personnel files, made public because of the suits, held shocking allegations: that a priest pulled boys out of religious classes and raped them in a confessional; that another fathered two children and left the children's mother alone as she overdosed; that another seduced girls studying to become nuns by telling them he was "the second coming of Christ."

The crisis put every U.S. diocese under new scrutiny.

Because of molestation claims, at least 325 of America's 46,000 priests were removed from duty or resigned in the year following the Geoghan case.